Movie Review: Easy Virtue (1928)

Movie Review: Easy Virtue (1928) directed by Alfred Hitchcock John Whittaker (Robin Irvine) returns from a Riviera vacation with a surprise bride. Larita (Isabel Jeans) is certainly pretty, and seems pleasant enough. But John’s mother (Violet Farebrother) can’t shake the feeling that she’s seen Larita before, and that the young woman is hiding something. Larita is… Continue reading Movie Review: Easy Virtue (1928)

Movie Review: Mad Max: Fury Road

Max and Furiosa don't get along at first.

Movie Review: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) directed by George Miller It’s been some years since we last saw Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy). He’s almost unrecognizable as the same person. By now, there are adults who were born after the fall of the previous civilization and have no memory of what once was. Max’s mental state… Continue reading Movie Review: Mad Max: Fury Road

Open Thread: List Challenges

Created for me by Indigo Caldwell; please do not reuse without permission.

Open Thread: List Challenges Current reading is slow going, so time for an open thread! I got lured on to the List Challenges website, which allows you to create lists of books or movies or other items and post them so people can then click on the items to show they’ve read or watched the… Continue reading Open Thread: List Challenges

Movie Review: Joe (2013)

Joe welcomes one of his crew back to the job.

Movie Review: Joe (2013) directed by David Gordon Green Joe Ransom (Nicolas Cage) is holding his life together…barely. He runs a small business that kills trees unsuitable for lumber for the local lumber company, employing a day worker crew that works hard for the cash money and appreciates that he doesn’t cheat them. Maybe he smokes… Continue reading Movie Review: Joe (2013)

Movie Review: The Searchers (1956)

The posse considers their options.

Movie Review: The Searchers (1956) directed by John Ford Texas, 1868: Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) finally returns to his childhood home, three years after the end of the American Civil War. He evades questions about where he’s been, though he was emphatically not in California. Ethan gets reacquainted with his brother Aaron’s family: wife Martha, eldest… Continue reading Movie Review: The Searchers (1956)

Manga Review: The Crater

Manga Review: The Crater by Osamu Tezuka In the late 1960s, Osamu Tezuka’s career was facing a crisis. He was still popular, with publishers quite willing to buy more of the kid-friendly material he’d become famous for. But he wasn’t a trend-setter anymore. The new generation of manga creators was into gekiga, more serious and… Continue reading Manga Review: The Crater

Comic Book Review: The Story of Lee Volume 1

Comic Book Review: The Story of Lee Volume 1 written by Sean Michael Wilson, art by Chie Kutsuwada Lee is a big fan of British music, especially a band called The Clientele. But working in her father’s corner store in Hong Kong, it’s unlikely she’ll ever see them in person. Indeed, she’s feeling very stifled.… Continue reading Comic Book Review: The Story of Lee Volume 1

Book Review: Diadem from the Stars

Book Review: Diadem from the Stars by Jo Clayton Aleytys (“Leyta” to her friends) isn’t like the other girls in her clan. No one else has that bright red hair. Although she is the daughter of Azdar, the clan head, he barely acknowledges Aleytys exists, and his first wife Qumri is physically and emotionally abusive… Continue reading Book Review: Diadem from the Stars

Movie Review: Seven Samurai

Six of the seven.

Movie Review: Seven Samurai (1954) directed by Akira Kurosawa It is in the Warring Stages period of Japanese history, but between major battles, so many samurai and soldiers are at loose ends, and bandits roam the countryside. An isolated farm village learns that the local bandit gang that already took their rice harvest is coming back… Continue reading Movie Review: Seven Samurai

Open Thread: Top Ten Lists for 2022!

Cover photo by Jim Giles of Loch Voil.

Open Thread: Top Ten Lists for 2022! Yes, it’s that time again, winding up a year of blog posts by listing the ones you, the audience, felt worthy of attention. Top 10 Posts of 2022 Book Review: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round TableAnime Review: Baki (2018)Manga Review: Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Volume 1Movie Review:… Continue reading Open Thread: Top Ten Lists for 2022!